Interpersonal
by rockholmes
Summary: At times, Yuya considered his others to be a bit more than hard to handle. A series of one-shots revolving around Yuya, Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri.
1. Inward Struggles

**A/N** : So here's the first part of how ever many parts in my series of manga-focused Arc V fanfics.

I have to admit, I latched weirdly onto the manga version of Arc V. I love the relationships between the Yuu's, and it resonated a lot within me. I'd like to expand a lot on that.

* * *

If he were to be perfectly honest, Yuya would've had to say that he wasn't much of a quiet guy.

Yes, he was something of a loner, but that sort of title more fit Yuto than him. He was an entertainer, after all, and actually _liked_ being around people. Just because he'd been cut off from most socialization, it wasn't as if he was ever really alone. All things considered, Yuya was entirely extroverted.

That being said, he still wished that he could get _some_ peace and quiet these days.

When he wasn't being confronted by those who wanted to meet and duel the Phantom, his ear was being talked off by his new manager. And when she wasn't trying to get all the information she possibly could out of him, monitoring the city and keeping himself properly hidden to look for the card he needed took enough effort to keep him more than occupied.

Of course, even _that_ wasn't too bad. He'd been dealing with most of that for years.

What he _hadn't_ dealt with in years had to do with two of his others making their reappearance.

Ever since Yugo and Yuri had come back, he'd been getting these sudden spikes of pain in his head. They happened when he was younger, back when he had particular trouble dealing with three other personalities all living in his brain, but he eventually got used to them.

He was starting to truly realize just how quiet Yuto was, at least in comparison to the other two. He might have talked a lot, sure, but he tended to keep his comments short and to the point, and generally avoided yelling or overreacting to situations. There were some exceptions, but Yuya was definitely the more outgoing of the two. All in all, Yuto was fairly grounded, and understood how to allow silent moments.

Yuri and Yugo...didn't. Not usually, anyway.

It wasn't much of a surprise that Yugo was the worse of the two, but when together, it was sometimes difficult to tell. While all four of them cared about each other, Yuya found that he was much closer to Yuto, and that Yuri and Yugo had formed a much stronger bond than the ones he'd had with either of them.

That didn't stop the two from arguing all the time, though.

And that was probably the issue, though he couldn't quite make out what they were saying.

Sitting on the couch of their hideout, he took a glance at Yuto's collected form, no sign of pain or discomfort, and wondered _how_ , but knew that the dark-haired boy was probably a lot more used to this than he was. And, of course...

Yuya held a hand up to rub at his face and stared at his transparent other. "Why do we have a headache?"

Though he said _we_ , he in reality meant to refer specifically to himself. He'd gotten so used to looking at himself in the plural form, even when it didn't totally fit. Physical pain only affected the one in control of their body at the time, and this evidently included their frequent migraines. It was one of the main reasons that the others were perfectly fine letting Yuya take the reigns for the majority of the time.

They cared about his well-being, yes, but they knew well enough that pain inflicted to the body was inevitably going to affect _someone_. If Yuya wanted to be the one to take the brunt of that, it wasn't as if they were going to object, for the most part.

Crossing his arms, Yuto cocked his head to the side. "Yuri and Yugo are arguing about which of us would represent which of the Four Horsemen."

"What?" the tangible boy responded, removing his palm from his cheek. That seemed a little ridiculous, even for the two of them. "Like, of the apocalypse? Why?"

Yuto only shrugged, taking a step back from his other. "I couldn't tell you. Yuri told me that he would be Death."

Shaking his head, Yuya snorted. "With the way you both dress?" he replied jokingly. The dark-haired boy looked down at himself, uncrossing his arms and looking incredulous, as Yuya continued. " _You'd_ be Death. Yuri would be War, without a doubt."

"You think that?"

"I _know_ that!" Yuya exclaimed as he moved to lay down on the couch. He waved a finger in the air and said in a matter-of-fact tone, "Yuri's been the one picking fights with people ever since we were kids. I mean, remember the last time we tried to attend school? He almost sent someone to the _hospital_ , just for trying to steal one of my cards!"

The dark-haired boy shrugged and looked away, muttering to himself, "It was an important card," he raised his voice and narrowed his eyes onto Yuya. "That, and he was threatening you. You _know_ that Yuri would never tolerate someone talking about hurting you, even if their words _are_ empty."

 _Oh_ , did Yuya know that. He sighed and folded his hands behind his head, shifting his gaze to the ceiling.

It was probably wrong that Yuya found the borderline unhealthy possessive nature endearing and heartwarming, but that behavior was simply Yuri. All their lives, Yuri was like that, and it was always for the sake of Yuya's safety, and always worked out in their favour. Maybe it was because they'd known each other for so long, or because they shared a body and a headspace, but he couldn't think of Yuri and find his aggressive protectiveness anything but admirable.

Well, that wasn't entirely true. Yuri could be a _little_ harsh at times. Still, it was hard for him to mind too much.

As the pointless war raged on, he knew well enough that another would spark right after. And after that, yet another. Yuya couldn't find it in his heart to blame them and, after letting out a sigh, he closed his eyes. What else were they all to do, anyway, but talk among themselves?

All the four of them ever really had was each other.


	2. Road Trip Excerpts: 1 - Eventualities

**A/N** : Hi so here's a bit of pawnshipping because I love it, unfortunately.

* * *

"I remember this," Yugo said quietly, staring into the reflection of his own eyes and turning over the memory fragment. His fingers lined the dull edges and sent the vision flooding through him.

Just a few feet away, Yuri leaned his back against the Duel Runner and folded his arms, gaze vaguely interested. "Ah? What's this one?"

They'd been traveling through their own mind for years. Though, it was specifically for Yuya.

Yuya's mind was a vacant desert-like land with one single road, seemingly never-ending, imagined sun throwing rays of imagined heat at them. It wasn't _actually_ hot, not really, but it gave the illusion of real daylight. With enough effort, the surroundings could change, but this setting seemed to be the default and tended to make their job a lot easier.

Their job, of course, was both simple and extremely complex.

"It's from a few years ago," Yugo explained. "Something about a bully, I'm pretty sure."

The two were sort of like guardians to Yuya, and wanted to protect him in all the ways they could. So, they decided to go through their past - _Yuya's_ past - and erase some of the worst parts. Any memory he'd have been better off without, they shattered. Maybe that was harsh, or even morally wrong, and Yugo felt that way more times than one. But there were certain memories that Yuya would definitely have been happier not having.

And, well, keeping Yuya happy was their ultimate goal.

At times, it was hard to differentiate between the different shards, even if it was technically their own mind. They were all scattered about, and each one could only be accessed individually.

"Let's have a look, then."

At Yuri's words, the memory dissipated in Yugo's hand, and he gave a slight jump. Just after turning his head, he began to recognize the scene playing out before the two of them. It altered the environment, turned the deserted landscape into a bright urban area, formed structures around them and brought life to the sky's color. It all came to represent the side of a school.

And, to their right, there they were. A hologram-like version of them.

They were a child. Couldn't have been older than seven or eight, which made sense. Most of their prominent memories came from when they'd been a kid. And yet, something seemed off. In almost all of their memories, especially ones where they'd been much younger, the one in control of their body was Yuya.

Except, this time, it _wasn't_ Yuya.

The eye and hair color gave it away.

And then, it hit him. Yugo turned to the other and said, "Wait, this was...the month you decided to take over, I think."

Yuri didn't respond, only tightened his already crossed arms and stared at the smaller version of himself.

During the years that they'd all been prominent parts of Yuya's mind, it was hard deciding who would take front when their host wouldn't. They tended to alternate between each other, but even considering the fact that there were only three of them, it still ended up rather difficult. And at one point, Yuri decided to take control of their body nearly all throughout an entire month.

It was a relatively normal occurrence, though it made going to school a difficult task.

Most prominently had to do with those who would often pick on Yuya. They did the same to Yuri, called him names, pushed him around, but he wasn't quite as passive or optimistic in response. Instead, he used scathing words and verbal retaliation. This often made things _much_ worse.

Case in point was the boy in front of their younger self, backing Yuri into the wall. His gaze was menacing and his smile was cruel.

The transparent bully laughed, "If you want to pick a fight so bad, I'll give you one. You and me are gonna duel, here, exactly seven."

It was like being thrown into the middle of a play, though he could sort of understand without the context. Yuri was often brash in his wording, and tended to make enemies without trying very hard. Something in Yugo's thoughts said _Juza_ , the name of the frightening child, _Juza_. And even after Juza's proposed challenge, the smaller boy said nothing in response. He instead looked on, silent, in what appeared to be a sick combination of fear and dread.

The reaction was completely unlike Yuri, but Yugo could sort of understand why. Juza was at least twice their size, must have been a couple of years ahead of them, and had a piercing presence. Still, under similar circumstances, the Yuri he came to know wouldn't have reacted the same way.

He knew this, because it wasn't usual that his other would be so deeply intimidated by anyone.

Yugo wanted to look back at his other, say something to Yuri, say _anything_.

Without warning, the scene shifted to later that evening. Juza was there, shining from the moonlit night. He was obviously waiting for his opponent, waiting for Yuri, and had his purple hair tied up. He looked almost like a warrior. One much younger than any real fighter would be, though. And, just as Yugo wondered what would happen next, the see-through Juza perked his head up.

And yet, it wasn't Yuri who appeared at the dueling grounds.

It was Yugo, shouting to Juza in a fit of rage.

He vaguely remembered his thought process at the time, could barely grasp the moment, could tell that he'd been present at the time for the challenge imposed on Yuri. He remembered how furious it made him, how hard he fought to gain control of their body long enough to duel the bully into submission. Back then, he wanted to teach the boy a lesson. No one ever threatened his others.

"A very rare moment of one of _you_ having to protect _me_ ," the pink-haired double said haughtily, smirking in a somewhat menacing manner as he sarcastically whined, "My _white knight_ came to save me."

Choosing not to acknowledge the jab, Yugo narrowed his eyes at the vision of the boy. They shared the same mind, so it was easy to tell when Yuri was being emotionally stubborn purely for the sake of being stubborn, and likely didn't enjoy Yugo seeing him in a vulnerable state. "...Juza never knew it was me, I don't think," he speculated, then corrected himself. "Or, more like, he didn't know it was us. That we were connected to each other at all."

"Well, why would he have noticed?" Yuri asked rhetorically. "We may have the same body and face, but our senses of style are _completely_ dissimilar."

He had a point, sort of. It helped that it was rather dark.

The fact that the bully had no idea they were the same person was somehow cathartic for Yugo. Usually, when one of them would protect another, their opponent would only see it as Yuya protecting himself. And yet, for just a moment, it appeared to someone the exact way that it was. Yugo was protecting Yuri. Even thought Juza might have thought that it was him protecting Yuya instead, it served the same purpose.

Absently, Yugo cocked his head to the side and hummed. "I guess."

"What?" the other asked, raising an eyebrow. "I know you aren't thinking that I'm wrong."

"No, it's just," he had no idea of how to properly word it, and decided against attempting to be tactful. "It's just that we don't come across a lot of important memory shards that don't have Yuya in them at all."

In a way, he wasn't lying, but that hadn't been his only concern.

Yuri was unfortunately somewhat right in his accusation. There really _hadn't_ been a lot of instances where he had to be protected by the others, while the other way around was much more likely to happen. He was a lot more stern and direct with those they interacted with, going by the philosophy of not developing personal relationships with anyone outside of his three counterparts.

It was almost always either Yuto or Yuri who would take over when they were being threatened, and it was Yuri who could so easily and without hesitation confront those threatening their lives, especially when they were younger.

That was the main reason Yugo came to cherish this moment so much, because it was an unspoken declaration of how much he _did_ care for his partners.

"It's hard for something to be unspoken," Yuri said, pointing to Yugo, "when we can read each other's thoughts."

And Yugo decided to ignore _that_ , too.

Even though the memory playing out before them was an illusion, he wanted so badly to take part in it. There was deep desire within him to interact with his younger self, or at least to get more information on how he thought at the time. He wanted to reach out, _did_ reach out, tried to grab at the vision and -

From his periphery, he could hear Yuri climbing onto the Duel Runner. The sound was enough to snap him out of focus, and suddenly, the scene ended. Their surroundings turned back to normal and the boy was nowhere to be found. On the ground where he stood was the memory shard, glistening in the sky's light as the wasteland and road faded back into existence.

Yugo's arm fell to his side.

A moment passed where he wanted to bend down and pick up the memory shard, to break it into pieces so that he'd have been absolutely wiped from Yuya's memory. Instead, he turned back and silently got on the motorcycle.

The other put his hands on Yugo's sides.

"You're not going to destroy it, even though it has the both of us?"

"...No," Yugo replied, not looking back at his other and instead choosing to start up the bike. "I think I want to keep that one."

Behind him, the boy gave a huff of laughter, and Yugo could feel the smirk on Yuri's face press into his back.

"So sentimental."


	3. External Effects

**A/N** : This one's super short, but well, they're kinda supposed to be super short. I also have the other one mostly done, so expect that later tonight or tomorrow.

* * *

It didn't really hit Yuya just how difficult having real friends was until Yuzu suggested that they both go to watch a movie.

He'd accepted, because he was nice like that.

And not only that, but when he'd asked what movie they should go and see, she said that she would let him decide.

 _Oh yeah_ , he suddenly remembered, _having friends is actually really difficult._ He couldn't really be blamed for not recalling that, given that he'd first of all been avoiding social interaction for years, and second of all had enough gaps in his memory to make him any psychologist's toughest project. At least Yuzu wasn't interested in getting him medical help. That _never_ worked out.

At first, it felt like all she really wanted was to use his status to get her school both money and popularity, as well as to get more information. A purely professional and shallow interest, and that was what Yuya was used to.

But, no, they started to actually hang out with each other outside of work-related things. Yuya could finally say that he had some level of a social life, and he could feel himself start to genuinely care about Yuzu. He didn't want to mess this up, because it would technically be their first real outing together that was meant to _specifically_ be a friendly outing.

And yet, in the end, she let _him_ pick the movie.

Of course, in hindsight, he should have warned her that leaving him up to making those types of decisions was _really_ not the best idea.

His eyes glazed over the various options on the large screen of movie types and times. It wasn't like he'd seen many films, at least not in the recent past. Just as he started contemplating which one they should watch, he could feel the other three appearing around him, though he tried to ignore their presence and focus on what Yuzu would most like to see.

"A horror movie!" Yugo's voice piped up from the background, snapping Yuya out of his thoughts. "Choose a horror movie!"

Before Yuya could respond, tell him that he literally _could not_ choose a horror movie due to there not being one out in theatres, out came Yuri's voice from the other side of him in a condescending tone, "You think she would want a horror movie? Choose a romantic comedy. She'll love you for it," he stated, encouraging words sending a wave of heat to Yuya's face. "You have to set the mood right."

Right. _Riiiiiight_.

That was what he'd been missing all those years that the two had been off on some road trip, as they called it. They used to give their two cents on every choice he'd ever made, but the thing was, he'd been so used to it back then.

Of course, a few years without two of his others made him rusty on dealing with them. In the end, Yuto wasn't _nearly_ as loud or invasive as Yugo and Yuri, and often let him be when he was deciding on what color socks to wear, or which character to pick in a video game, or what type of soda to get out of a vending machine. At least, that was usually the case.

Once they came back, though, it felt like Yuto became just as bad as the other two. Terrible influences, they were, and he suggested, "I believe that you should watch the second Gunman movie."

"But I don't remember any of the first one," Yuya protested. "You were the one who saw it, not me."

And then from Yuri, "Oh, just let me take over. I'm sure she'll appreciate someone as handsome as me."

Then, Yugo, "I'm handsome, too! I bet I could do even better than you!"

"It's not even a contest," Yuto tried stating, but was quickly drowned out.

They argued on and on about what to watch and who should be there, though Yuya knew he would ultimately be the one in that case. They then started talking about what they would wear, what sort of demeanor to put on. It was completely derailed, but even if they were on-topic, they still were loud enough to drown out Yuya's own thought process.

It was _always_ like this, and he had to pick a movie soon. Maybe he could have explained it to Yuzu, and maybe she would have understood that having three other people in his head made these things somewhat hard to accomplish.

He ended up going with the newest action movie.

It was decent overall, and the others were thankfully rather quiet throughout.

When she asked him if he'd enjoyed himself, he said, "Yeah, I did. Next time, though, I think _you_ should pick the movie."


	4. Personal Envy

**A/N** : These are getting increasingly shippy as I keep writing them, not gonna lie. That's not necessarily on purpose, it just kind of happens.

* * *

Sometimes, Yugo could be somewhat irrational.

Actually, he could be _really_ irrational.

That was almost a core part of his personality. He tended to react to things in a less conventional way, tried to fight all of their problems head-on, and often did things without thinking them through. He, at heart, was much more about flexibility and acting on impulse than planning or thinking ahead.

This brought problems for them, yes, but it also helped balance out the other three. At certain points, Yuto could be overly cautious or careful, which worked alarmingly well alongside Yugo's own near inability to be either of those. On the other hand, Yuya and Yuri were often and unwillingly forced into mediating roles when Yugo got too worked up, and it allowed them to calm down and make better decisions.

Still.

Even considering all of that, there was a point where that irrationality became a _bit_ hard to handle.

It all started with an XYZ duelist - someone who'd been tracing his steps for what seemed like weeks. He really regretted putting off dealing with the borderline stalker, but considering everything on his plate, Yuya didn't want to deal with another issue. The man was in the shadows as Yuya went out as the Phantom and dueled others, hid behind buildings and in bushes as he scoured the town.

They saw him in their peripheral vision almost every time they were out in public. It got to the point where even when he was out with Yuzu in the middle of the day, they'd see him. There was a silent agreement between all four that they wouldn't tell Yuzu, mostly for the reason that they didn't want to put her through any sort of panic, and also because they just didn't want to deal with the confrontation.

At least the man had the decency to leave Yuzu alone.

It made walking to their hideout considerably more difficult, but the immature part of Yuya decided that he'd have rathered the small inconvenience over actually taking care of the problem.

He should have expected that he'd have been encountered at one point or another.

The man was several years older than Yuya and stated something about wanting to be the best XYZ user in the city, and something else about how the mysterious Phantom was getting in the way of that goal, but _nothing_ about his name. One downside of random people wanting to duel him was that they didn't always tell him their names. It made duel banter a lot more difficult.

When Yuya was getting ready for their midnight battle, he casually suggested that Yuto be the one to duel alongside him. And almost immediately, Yugo appeared to his right. He almost dropped his cards in surprise when the Synchro user immediately started to protest.

"But _I_ should be the one to duel him," Yugo stated childishly. "Yuto dueled the last guy!"

In response, Yuya sighed and shook his head. "No, listen, we've been through this before. You use _Synchro_ summoning. Yuto should be the one to duel with me because our opponent specializes in _XYZ_ summoning, and Yuto knows all about - "

"Oh, yeah, sure," Yugo said in a mocking voice. "Yuto knows all about XYZ summoning, and everything else, too. It's actually just because you _love_ Yuto so much, right?"

"L... _Love_?"

Yuya was stunned speechless by the absolute lack of logic in the question.

It technically wasn't a new assumption, not really, since Yugo more than once exhibited some level of jealousy toward his others, in _regards_ to his others. Still, he often avoided being so straightforward or brash about it. He expressed his envy in passing remarks or in over-the-top reactions whenever one of them would choose someone else over him for anything.

The last time Yuri decided to go to Yuya for a problem and not him, Yugo accused the pink-haired double of betrayal, or something along those lines. For some reason, it felt like Yuri understood a lot better than Yuya did.

Then again, things were always that way.

Yuri's personality and Yugo's personality balanced each other rather well, despite their near constant arguing. It made sense - they'd spent years within Yuya's mind, presumably together that entire time. And even before that, they always seemed a lot closer to each other than to either of the other two. Yuri seemed to stick closer to Yugo and vice versa.

And not only that, but it was also clear that Yuri had more knowledge of how Yugo was actually feeling and why.

It seemed that Yugo was under the impression that any of them had a preference for one over another. The idea was so ridiculous to Yuya, though, and he had no idea of what to say or how to react.

He didn't have to give a retort, though, as he quickly heard Yuri sigh from inside his mind.

Then, right on cue, the pink-haired boy appeared and placed his hands on his transparent sides. "In case you don't remember _, we_ were the ones who left him on our own business, Yugo. If he got closer to Yuto than to us in that time, that's our fault."

"I - I _know_ , you've _said_ that, but," unable to find the right words, Yugo clenched his fists and cut himself off.

Suddenly feeling even more confused than before, Yuya set his cards down and looked between the two. They'd talked about this before? Not only that, but Yuri had apparently said those exact words. And Yuya had no idea of it? He was starting to understand where Yugo's insecurities came from; it was likely that he thought Yuya cared about Yuto over him, because of how much time they spent together.

But, even then, Yuri brought up good points. He stood in front of Yugo, arms crossed and expressed tired, like they'd been through this a thousand times. And from his words, they probably had.

" _Man_ , the stuff that goes on here without me knowing..." the green and red haired boy trailed off and put a hand to his temple, exasperated. He wondered what else might have taken place in his own brain outside of his knowledge. "Listen, you're getting jealous over the relationship someone who lives in your own head has with someone else who _also_ lives in your own head."

Putting it so bluntly made Yugo go red in the face and start sputtering, while Yuri covered his mouth to hide a snort of laughter. Yugo switched his attention to the pink-haired doppelganger. "H - Hey! Don't make fun of me! I'm - "

"You're all a part of me," Yuya cut him off and smiled. He wished not for the first time that his other was solid, so he could put a reassuring hand on his shoulder, or give him a comforting hug, and he instead decided to send positive feelings through their mind link. "There's no way I could prefer one of you over another, because you're all important parts of my life."

The room went silent for a moment as Yugo and Yuri stared at him. Then, Yugo turned himself away. Even though he was trying to pretend he wasn't, it was obvious that he was blushing.

"...Whatever," the Synchro duelist said, crossing his arms stubbornly. "It's almost midnight, you know? We should get going."

"Shit!" Yuya exclaimed, glancing at the clock and realizing that he was likely about to be late. He wanted to settle the weird stalker situation as quickly as possible, after all.

He grabbed his deck and stood up, making his way to the door.

Right as he began maneuvering his way out of their hideout, he saw Yugo floating next to him, avoiding eye contact, but obviously about to say something. Before Yuya could verbally wonder what or make an effort to read his thoughts, Yugo opened his mouth. "Yuto's...been at the back since I started arguing with you. I'll tell him to come out. You'll need him in the duel, right?"

Yuya knew that no matter how the duel went, he was still going to be smiling by the time it was over.


End file.
